


You're My Hero

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (please don't actually fight me), Gen, Langst, That's all I got, basically this is sad, oh cool it got less sad, shiro is an awkward kid fight me on this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-15 07:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11226504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Look, Shiro is Lance's hero. Nothing's gonna change that. Is that why it hurts so bad to see him choose Keith time and time again?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Nonny wanted some Langst. Who am I to deny?
> 
> Edit: Fixed some formatting issues.

Look, Lance gets it. Shiro and Keith have history. They know each other like brothers, like the very stars surrounding the castle ship at night. If Lance was being totally honest he'd say that they have the strongest bond of anyone on the team.

That doesn't make it hurt any less as Lance stands to the side as Hunk and Pidge share their anxiety. He used to fit in with them once upon a time, but venturing into the vast void of space had changed things. Perhaps once upon a time it wouldn't have hurt Lane so much to watch his hero wrap Keith in a warm, knowing hug. But that was then and this is now, and it's tearing Lance apart.

He knows that the team considers him family, so why does he feel so lost and alone? He knows that if he were to ask Shiro for a hug that he'd get it, but he can't bring himself to do that.

Shiro's his hero. Lance can't be  _that_ guy, y'know, the one who begs for Shiro's attention every second of every day. He knows that the attention and the praise would feed his soul, but he has a sinking feeling that asking for anything of the sort would invalidate the entire interaction because  _he asked for it,_ and Shiro's a  _good guy_ who would do  _anything_ to help his team.

Maybe that's why it hurts so much to watch him go back to Keith time and time again. Because Keith doesn't have to ask like Lance does, doesn't have to do anything other than be himself to get Shiro's praise and attention. Maybe that's why.

But if Lance is being totally honest with himself, that's not the reason it huts. No, it hurts because he knows that Keith has Shiro's favor because he's better than Lance in every conceivable way. It's obvious, really. Keith has always been one step ahead of Lance: first at the Garrison, then in rescuing Shiro out in the desert, and now in fighting an alien war in space. There's no doubt in Lance's mind now; it's been long enough for even him to figure this out.

And hell, could he have chosen a worse time to tear himself apart? Seriously, Lance needs to pull himself together before they depart for Beta Traz. He can feel Blue's comforting presence in the back of his mind, but it's not doing wonders for his self esteem. Maybe...

They're about to leave. He has to do something to get his mind off of this. Something- anything at all to occupy his mind. And then- "How bout a kiss for good luck?" It's out before he really knows what's happening, though he should have expected that, his thoughts are usually coming out before he has any time to process them. It's as good a distraction as he's bound to get, anyway. 

Who was he kidding? If Allura actually  _did_ kiss him he'd be on top of the moon- he'd be invincible, unstoppable as he took Blue to Beta Traz.

It really shouldn't have been a surprise that they made him kiss the mouse, but it helped. For now his thoughts were on that whiskery kiss and the teasing he would be subject to later. And that's something safe, something familiar. He can handle that until the thoughts come back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look a POV change... and a tense change?

It was a long day and Shiro was tired, but Hunk and Pidge had found a way to transfer Altean energy into a charge their phones could use and the team was eager to go through their memories from Earth. Of course, Shiro didn’t have a phone with him (hadn’t exactly taken one out to Kerberos with him) and he’d been feeling a bit out of place.

But Hunk, being Hunk, noticed that Shiro didn’t have anything other than stories and a patient smile to share with the others and immediately began sharing his photos with him. It was touching, really. But-

“Is that me?” He hadn’t known that the Garrison had churned out propaganda using his face, though in retrospect it was something he should have predicted when he sold his soul all those years ago. No, the thing that bewildered him was that there was a picture of him on the wall of Hunk’s room.

Hunk pulled his phone away, fumbling with it and nearly dropping it with his haste. “No- I mean yes- well-” he began to ramble, his hands moving animatedly, as if they could steal his anxiety and transform it.

“Why is there a picture of me on your wall?”

The entire room stilled at that, but Shiro couldn’t fathom why. He looked from Pidge (who seemed determined to avoid eye contact) to Keith (whose face was kept carefully neutral, damn him) and then to Lance. Lance, who was blanched but smiling. He wore the uncomfortable expression awkwardly, and Shiro winced inwardly. What was it that he’d asked? Had he thrown Hunk under a bus with that question?

Finally Hunk’s rambling reached a conclusion. “-and it’s not like the poster’s even  _mine_ anyway I mean you weren’t  _my_  hero-” he stopped himself. It was an abrupt and unfulfilling conclusion, but a conclusion nonetheless.

Besides, Shiro wasn’t born under a rock. He’d seen enough of those photos to know that Lance was Hunk’s roommate- that Lance was the only other one who would have put up a poster in that room. Some things clicked in his head then, and he turned to look at Lance with an easy smile. 

Lance still looked a little pale, and his smile had faded, but he looked considerably more at ease as he watched Shiro’s response. The longer Shiro watched Lance the more he realized that his teammate had been expecting a negative reaction. That he’d probably feared that he’d hold this above his head and tease him, maybe even treat him differently, and that put a sour taste in his mouth.

Was he really that distant from the others? More importantly, did they not know him well enough to understand that Shiro would never,  _never,_  do something like that to them? 

So how to answer? It had to be something that reminded them that he was like them, that he wasn’t as high and mighty as the Garrison probably wanted people to believe, but what could he say? 

 _I can’t believe- how did they get such a good picture of you?! You’re literally the most unphotogenic person I have ever met!_ A smile tugged at his lips as he remembered how flabbergasted Matt had been- and how hard he had laughed when Shiro told him-

“It took them three hours to get that picture and I’m still not convinced they didn’t just give up with me and use a doppelganger instead.” Shiro laughed hard enough that tears sprung to his eyes, and found that having the others laugh with him was the best feeling in the world. 

Even better, though, was the way Lance’s face lit up as he laughed along with them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I have a tumblr!](https://the-universalfiction.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> Will be a followup because one was requested lmao. Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> [I have a tumblr!](https://the-universalfiction.tumblr.com)


End file.
